New dust collector with a leak

[Brian Brown]

I just bought a Delta 760-50 dust collector. It seems to work well, but has a serious air leak around the motor seal (see picture for location). The bag does not inflate fully like most of the dust collection systems that I have seen (even with all hose and pipe removed). It looks like an airport wind sock on a windless day, not like the picture here. I say it works well, but anything is better than what I had. Is the air leak a problem? It seems that a lot of fine dust will get back into the air. Also, should the system have enough air volume to fully inflate the bag, or does the bag fully inflate only when the dust starts to cake on the inside of the filter bag? What is the best way to fix the leak? It has a gasket around the motor mount. If it matters, I assembled it with the motor down, and the "Y" up. Would the weight of the motor pull the seal away from the housing? And will Lassie get help in time to save Timmy from the well?

[Chris Barnett]

Have the same DC and the bag fully inflates regardless of amount of dust collected (so far). My motor is up but do not know if that could be the cause, or if I mounted the motor or if it came that way. Sounds like the seal may have slipped to cause the leak, but I would look for a more sinister cause of the partially inflated bag, like blockage or low motor voltage perhaps. Good luck...you will like the DC.

[Mike Goetzke]

How is the suction on the inlet? You should fix the seal leak for the amount of air you describe that is leaking. I have a Jet canister now but I started with a HF 30 micron two cloth-bagger and it took a little running before the bags became stiff when it ran.

[Tom Henderson2]

Put the motor on top and I bet it will work.

When you have it apart, look at the airway passages... I'll bet they won't work if the impeller is turning the opposite direction.

Just a guess, as I haven't ever seen one taken apart. So I may be all wrong.

[David DeCristoforo]

If the unit is designed to have the motor mounted "on top" and yours is mounted "on the bottom", your blower is running backwards!

[Alan Schwabacher]

Are you sure that it's a leak, and that you are not just feeling the breeze from the motor cooling air? If you have a good quality properly-sized bag, it will not inflate hard until it's coated with a lot of dust. If it really is a leak, it's very important to get it taken care of.

[Mike Goetzke]

If the unit is designed to have the motor mounted "on top" and yours is mounted "on the bottom", your blower is running backwards!

I've seen some mount the motor on the correct side and then flip the entire motor blower assembly over.

[Ted Torres]

I've seen some mount the motor on the correct side and then flip the entire motor blower assembly over.

Brian,

Tom, David and Mike are all on the right track. The centrifical impellar is designed to work with the housing in transferring air suction into velocity to the bags. A reversed orientation, such as you have set up, would really interrupt that air flow design. As Mike stated above, if you really want the suction located on top, you have to reverse the whole assembly as one unit (motor and housing)!

Ted

[Brian Brown]

The motor came factory installed on the blower unit. The entire blower unit is mounted motor down. The instructions say that the the unit can be mounted either up or down depending on which fits you piping best. I flipped a coin because the piping is not in yet, but I may reverse it to have the motor weight pushing down on the seal. The air leak wasn't present the first time I ran it, but by the next day it was leaking.

[Brian Brown]

We may have a winner! I checked the cooling air exhaust idea by blocking the cooling air intake to the motor for a few seconds. The "leak" reduced by about 85%. This may well be the answer. I don't care if the bag does not fully inflate, if it is not expected to, because it just means that the bag is efficient, and will remain so even after there is some dust caking. Thank you everyone for your help.